Category Archives: Education

Spider Thread

Spider hanging by its thread

Why a spider hanging from a thread does not rotate

The extraordinary properties of spider’s thread are like a blessing for researchers working on polymers. However, the amazing twisting properties it displays are still not very well understood. How can one explain the fact that a spider suspended by a thread remains completely motionless, instead of rotating like a climber does at the end of a rope?
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Spider’s thread, on the other hand, is very efficient at absorbing oscillations, regardless of air resistance, and retains its twisting properties during the experiments. It also returns to its exact original shape. Certain alloys, such as Nitinol, possess similar properties but must be heated to 90° to return to their original shape.

The amazing properties of spider’s thread have been known for several years: its ductility, strength and hardness surpass those of the most complex synthetics fibers

See more blog posts on life science, biology, etc. and more posts of interest to students and everyone interesting in learning about science.

Problems in India’s Education System

India’s faltering education system by Kaushik Basu, Professor of economics, Cornell University

A recent evaluation of universities and research institutes all over the world, conducted by a Shanghai university, has not a single Indian university in the world’s top 300 – China has six.

The Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, comes in somewhere in the top 400 and IIT, Kharagpur, makes an appearance after that.

Read more about the best universities in the world.

Outsourcing of Indian Education by Pratap Bhanu Mehta

India has become a net consumer of foreign education – spending to the tune of $3 billion a year to train students abroad.
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On the one hand, successful globalization requires that the state invest heavily in increasing access to education. But in higher education, globalization also requires the state to respect the autonomy of institutions so that a diversity of experiments can find expression, so that institutions have the flexibility to do what it takes to retain talent in a globalized world and, above all, respond quickly to growing demand.

The Challenges for India’s Education System by Marie Lall

Altered Oceans: the Crisis at Sea

Extensive LA Times series on Altered Oceans: the Crisis at Sea [sigh, once agin pointy haired bosses broke a links, so they were removed – when will we have web sites run by people that understand basic usability?] by Kenneth R. Weiss and Usha Lee McFarling. Excellent.

Part 1 (of 5): A Primeval Tide of Toxins “Runoff from modern life is feeding an explosion of primitive organisms. This ‘rise of slime,’ as one scientist calls it, is killing larger species and sickening people”

Part 4: Plague of Plastic Chokes the Seas:

Their flight paths from Midway often take them over what is perhaps the world’s largest dump: a slowly rotating mass of trash-laden water about twice the size of Texas.

This is known as the Eastern Garbage Patch, part of a system of currents called the North Pacific subtropical gyre. Located halfway between San Francisco and Hawaii, the garbage patch is an area of slack winds and sluggish currents where flotsam collects from around the Pacific
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Nearly 90% of floating marine litter is plastic — supple, durable materials such as polyethylene and polypropylene, Styrofoam, nylon and saran.

About four-fifths of marine trash comes from land, swept by wind or washed by rain off highways and city streets, down streams and rivers, and out to sea.

I have been unable to find a decent photo of this garbage patch – please post a comment if you know of one.

The World’s Best Research Universities

Shanghai’s Jiao Tong University produces a ranking of the top universities annually (since 2003). The methodology used focuses on research (publications) and faculty quality (Fields and Nobel awards and citations). While this seems a very simplistic ranking it still provides some interesting data: highlights from the 2006 rankings of Top 500 Universities worldwide include:

Country representation in the top schools:

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location Top 101 % of World
Population		 % of World GDP % of top 500
USA 54   4.6%   28.4%  33.4%
United Kingdom 10  0.9   5.1 8.6
Japan   6 2.0 11.2 6.4
Canada   4  0.5   2.4 8.0
The rest of Europe 18 4.4
Australia   2   0.3   1.5 3.2
Israel   1   0.1   0.3 1.4

Update: see our post on 2007 best research universities results

Top 10 schools:

  • Harvard University
  • Cambridge University
  • Stanford University
  • University of California at Berkeley
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology(MIT)
  • California Institute of Technology
  • Columbia University
  • Princeton University
  • University Chicago
  • Oxford University

Continue reading →

Tracking Narwhals in Greenland

photo of Narwal pod

Tracking Narwhals in Greenland:

From August 2006 to March 2007, scientists from the University of Washington and the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources will instrument 8-10 narwhals with satellite-linked time-depth-temperature recorders to track whale movements, diving behavior, and ocean temperature structure in Baffin Bay. The instruments will collect water column temperature profiles in the pack ice to more than 1500 meters in depth when narwhals make a fall migration from north Greenland to their wintering grounds in Baffin Bay. Narwhals have never been observed or studied in their winter habitat in central Baffin Bay due to dense ice cover, offshore location, and logistics, so this is a very exciting opportunity for all participants.

A collection of inquiry-and National Science Education Standards-based lessons plans for grades 5-12 that have been specifically designed for this expedition..

Narwhal whales (Monodon monoceros) have been called the unicorn whale due to the tooth that grows strait out from their head up to 8 feet. More information via NOAA also see: A Whale’s Amazing Tooth.

photo: A pod of narwhals from northern Canada, August 2005 – larger

Student Design Competition for Sustainability

The United States Environmental Protection Agency has opened the P3: People, Prosperity and the Planet Student Design Competition for Sustainability. This competition provides grants to teams of college students to research, develop, and design solutions to challenges to sustainability. See the application and more information for details on eligibility and criteria.

Approximately 50 awards for Phase I; Approximately 10 awards for Phase II with approximately $1,250,000 total for all awards.
Up to $10,000 per Phase I grant for one year including direct and indirect costs. Proposals for Phase I grants with budgets exceeding $10,000 will not be considered. Upon the successful completion of Phase I, Phase I grant recipients will have the opportunity to apply for Phase II funding of up to $75,000 for one additional year including direct and indirect costs.

Applications are due by 21 December 2006.

Science Education in India

Science panic in India by Bruce Einhorn:

Mayank Vahia, professor of Astrophysics at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, the other day came out with a story in DNA India that tried to be upbeat about India’s potential. But Vahia also couldn’t help but point out that “What is of immediate concern is the status of education and research in Indian universities. They are riddled with mediocrity and excessive bureaucratic stranglehold. Unwarranted political interference and endemic corruption in the system are other serious problems.”

Read Mayank Vahia’s article.

Also check out a Google tech webcast of Leveraging India As India Stands Up by Ashok Jhunjhunwala

Many countries are striving for science and technology improvements. Each country has its own challenges to those desires. How well each country does in this area will have a large impact on how well they do economically. The Future is Engineering.

Related posts:

Math and Science Teacher Shortage

Lack of math, science teachers prompts U.S. alarm by Ledyard King:

The lack of certified science and math teachers is a growing quandary for schools around the nation, particularly those in poor neighborhoods. Lawmakers in Washington are proposing to spend billions over the next several years to encourage more teachers to enter those subject fields.
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Government money could help replicate programs like the University of Pennsylvania Science Teachers Institute, which — at no cost — gives current science teachers an intensive, 26-month course to give them a deeper understanding of science and improve their delivery to students.

This article (from January of this year) is not new information – the shortage of qualified teachers has been a problem for quite some time.

Blog posts related to k-12 science education

Chinese Engineering Education Shortfalls

Short article on Chinese engineering education – Many engineering majors not qualified to work by Rachel Yan

Experts made the claim at the Symposium of Multi- and Inter-Disciplinary Engineering Education at East China University of Science and Technology yesterday.
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Among the country’s 23 million college students, about 8 million are studying engineering-related majors.
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“In many aspects, China can be proud of its engineering education,” said Tu Shandong, vice president of ECUST.

“But an increasing number of employers began to raise the embarrassing question that engineering majors lack professional knowledge and have poor communication or teamwork skills,” he said.

Only 14 percent of engineering graduates become qualified engineers in the field. Most graduates give up a career as an engineer and pursue work in other industries within nine years, according to the university’s research.

The topic of graduates that are not internationally competitive continues to be discussed in relation to the international engineering education data comparisons (also see: Engineering Education Worldwide). Continue reading →

Google Tech Webcasts

Google provides video webcasts of speakers (engineers, scientists, software programmers, professors…) that present at Google. These videos offer a great way to take part in one aspect of work at Googleplexs.

Recent additions include:

The rate at which they add excellent videos is amazing. You might find yourself wanting to work at Google.

Previous post: Google Tech Talks also see Google related posts on our management improvement blog